From the President's Desk

From the President's Desk

Greetings fellow Rotarians and friends,

It has been a busy few weeks, today was the District Assembly at Mullumbimby and all was good.  Rick, Ing, Lauren and I attended. The theme for next year is Light Up Rotary and my challenge to you is to see who can help us to get Rotary into the limelight at Riverfire this year at South Bank. Like when the fireworks start why not a Rotary Wheel of fire to open the event? We could light up the Brisbane River too.   So who knows who?  Who is politically connected to pull this off?  Who in pyrotechnics would do this for Rotary?

Ok, back to earth and I must convey the condolences of all the Club Members to Wendy and Dan on the passing of Wendy's Dad in Tasmania while they were in Hawaii. Our thoughts are certainly with you and we do hope your Friendship Exchange experience was as good as you could wish for.

The Mount Isa Team are back in town Tara had a great time, Ian and Heather are exhausted I believe.  I thank them and every other volunteer sincerely for such a great effort.  This is one major project that this dedicated team has handled with professionalism, enthusiasm and integrity. The Royal Flying Doctor Service is very happy and once again it shows what can be achieved utilising volunteers.

Lauren has given a great Kiva report, which will be on the website soon.  Thanks Lauren and the Kiva team another great effort.

The Team NextGen Committee met last Monday night and I am impressed with the outcome from that first face-to-face meeting, well done Kaye and her Team.

Bree went to RYPEN and what a great report back from Bree, you can read about it online, the results from such a small investment will stay with Bree for a long time.  Well done to the Club for this support.

Youth Exchange fever has hit the club, (or Ing maybe).  This takes me back to 1981/82 when I was a first time President and our club had an exchange student and I was the Counsellor, now our New Club is having an exchange student, I feel so young again.  Where has the time gone I ask?   You can read all about our Great New Student on line, it's all organised, Team NextGen are out of control with excitement.

We have two new Members, welcome Kathy and Julian, it is great to have you on board and I see both of you are heavily involved with fundraising, so it looks like we could get busy soon.  Everyone please tune in when these two members do their guest speaking presentation.

Facebook tells me Sue and Jed got married, Congratulations to you both.  Ingrid had a birthday, Congratulations Ing and Tara made the cake, well not exactly but it was great, thanks Tara.  Ian Y had a birthday too, yeah can't forget that one, Ian.

Jan and Leigh had a fantastic night for their fundraiser, unfortunately I missed out due to work commitments that night but all reports are good.  Jan will cover this on the web page, I won't steal her story, I will congratulate them, such a great project.

The SUNS won today, 6 wins from 8 games and fifth in the competition.  This is a great position to be in, we are there on June 8th for Ray and Cookie to experience an afternoon at the AFL and this should be a fun day.  We will hold a Changeover Breakfast that morning, it won't be a changeover as such, just a celebration of our Rotary Year, a time with our Members, also it presents the opportunity for the Club Members to meet Ray and Cookie, and our new Members, Kathy and Julian if they can be there.

We now need to plan this year ahead, we will have a Club Forum in a few weeks, please don't run and hide, come online and speak, we welcome your input. Please email any suggestions in advance.  Birdsville planning has begun, I need an assistant secretary, help please.

That's it from me,

Have a great week,

Yours in Service

Geoff